The term "product restructuring" as used herein refers to a process of generating a listing of assembly components, determining whether the assembly is being manufactured in a most efficient manner, and if a more efficient component combination for an assembly appears possible and more economic, generating a component listing for the apparently more efficient assembly. The term "efficiency" as used herein may refer to costs in terms of time, money or other resources. Generally, one assumption utilized in the product restructuring process is that it is more efficient to use identical components in many assemblies rather than using different components in each assembly. More specifically, the cost of manufacturing an assembly increases as the types and varieties of components increase. This increased cost leads to inefficient manufacturing processes and waste.
Limiting the variety of assembly components, however, preferably should not limit the variety of assemblies manufactured. A motor manufacturer, for example, prefers to provide a wide range of models. Therefore, product restructuring should not be performed at the expense of product variety.
In the past, manufacturers have used an assembly matrix to facilitate the product restructuring process. An assembly matrix comprises a matrix wherein each column corresponds to an assembly and each row corresponds to a specific component. An example of an assembly matrix for an electrical device is shown in FIG. 1.
An assembly matrix generally is utilized to identify deviations in the selection of types of components for a variety of assemblies. For example, from a study of the matrix shown in FIG. 1, it is apparent that all 480 volt assemblies use capacitor 2095K92 except the THREE PHASE, 10 Amp model. The THREE PHASE, 10 Amp model therefore is a good candidate for product restructuring. Specifically, if capacitor 2095K92 can be used in this model, capacitor 2095K92 should be used because it will lead to a more efficient manufacturing process.
Although an assembly matrix conveys much information in compact form, it is difficult to find all deviations in the matrix, especially when working with a large matrix involving a large number of assemblies and components, i.e., a large problem domain. When working in a large problem domain, the general practice is to decompose the analysis into a number of sub-matrices. It is time consuming and difficult to generate the assembly sub-matrices for a large number of assemblies including many components. Moreover, using a number of sub-matrices hinders a complete product restructuring analysis. The person performing the restructure process may never be able to directly compare all assembly components in one matrix but rather will be limited to sub-matrix comparison. The assembly matrix method therefore is susceptible to error and is highly dependent upon the expertise of the person generating and studying the matrices.
Another method of product restructuring is known as "synthesis." The synthesis method generally requires one or more experts, who should have a complete understanding of marketing and manufacture, to redesign the product. During the redesign operation, the experts determine which parts and products are needed, and the entire array of parts and products are redesigned from scratch.
Although the synthesis approach may result in massive improvements due to radical changes, the synthesis approach requires expert knowledge which may not always be available. Further, the synthesis approach is susceptible to error due to oversight, and as with the matrix approach, it is highly dependent upon expert knowledge.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for product restructuring which facilitates more economic generation of products but not at the expense of losing product variety.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for product restructuring which is easy to use and implement even for a large number of assemblies including many components, i.e., in a large problem domain.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for product restructuring which is not highly dependent upon the expertise of a system user.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for product restructuring which facilitates a total product restructure analysis.